Middle to Late Pleistocene lake‐level fluctuations of Lake El'gygytgyn,far‐east Russian Arctic

Lake El'gygytgyn, located in central Chukotka, Russian Arctic, was the subject of an international drilling project that resulted in the recovery of the longest continuous palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental record for the terrestrial Arctic covering the last 3.6 million years. Here, we present the reconstruction of the lake‐level fluctuations of Lake El'gygytgyn since Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 based on lithological and palynological as well as chronological studies of shallow‐water sediment cores and subaerial lake terraces. Reconstructed lake levels show an abrupt rise during glacial–interglacial terminations (MIS 6/5 and MIS 2/1) and during the MIS 4/3 stadial–interstadial transition. The most prominent lowstands occurred during glacial periods associated with a permanent lake‐ice cover (namely MIS 6, MIS 4 and MIS 2). Major triggering mechanisms of the lake‐level fluctuations at Lake El'gygytgyn are predominantly changes in air temperature and precipitation. Regional summer temperatures control the volume of meltwater supply as well as the duration of the lake‐ice cover (permanent or seasonal). The duration of the lake‐ice cover, in turn, enables or hampers near‐shore sediment transport, thus leading to long‐term lake‐level oscillations on glacial–interglacial time scales by blocking or opening the lake outflow, respectively. During periods of seasonal ice cover the lake level was additionally influenced by changes in precipitation. The discovered mechanism of climatologically driven level fluctuations of Lake El'gygytgyn are probably valid for large hydrologically open lakes in the Arctic in general, thus helping to understand arctic palaeohydrology and providing missing information for climate modelling.     

Late Pleistocene lake and glaciation evolution on the northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau: a review

Late Pleistocene paleoclimatic history on northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) has been reconstructed mainly from lake sediments; however, data regarding dry–wet climate changes reported in this region are still not clear and controversial. Based on shoreline features and highstand lacustrine sediments around lakes on the QTP, high lake level histories in this paper were summarized and compared with paleoclimatic records from lake sediments, ice core and glaciation evolution surrounding mountains on the NE QTP during late Pleistocene. The results indicate that periods of high lake level occurred at MIS 5, MIS 3 and early-middle Holocene and most likely corresponding to warm and wet climate periods, while periods of low lake level existed in intervening intervals, corresponding to cold and dry climate periods, which most likely coincide with glacial advances surrounding high mountains. With an exception, no wide glacial advance in study area was found during MIS 3, possibly suggesting that effective moisture is lower than that in the other region of NE QTP in this period.     

Lake-level changes during the past 100,000 years at Lake Baikal, southern Siberia

Lake-level changes inferred from seismic surveying and core sampling of the floor of Lake Baikal near the Selenga River delta can be used to constrain regional climatic history and appear to be correlated to global climate changes represented by marine oxygen isotope stages (MIS). The reflection pattern and correlation to the isotope stages indicate that the topset and progradational foreset sediments of the deltas formed during periods of stable lake levels and warm climatic conditions. During warm stages, the lake level was high, and during cold stages it was low. The drop in the lake level due to cooling from MIS 5 through MIS 4 is estimated to be 33-38 m; from MIS 3 through MIS 2, it fell an additional 11-15 m. Because the lake level is chiefly controlled by evaporation and river input, we infer that more water was supplied to Lake Baikal during warm stages.     

Seismic‐stratigraphic record of a deglaciation sequence: from the marine Laflamme Gulf to Lake Saint‐Jean (late Quaternary,Québec,Canada)

The stratigraphy of the last deglaciation sequence is investigated in Lake Saint‐Jean (Québec Province, Canada) based on 300 km of echo‐sounder two dimensional seismic profiles. The sedimentary archive of this basin is documented from the Late Pleistocene Laurentidian ice‐front recession to the present‐day situation. Ten seismic units have been identified that reflect spatio‐temporal variations in depositional processes characterizing different periods of the Saint‐Jean basin evolution. During the postglacial marine flooding, a high deposition rate of mud settling, from proglacial glacimarine and then prodeltaic plumes in the Laflamme Gulf, produced an extensive, up to 50 m thick mud sheet draping the isostatically depressed marine basin floor. Subsequently, a closing of the water body due to glacio‐isostatic rebound occurred at 8.5 cal. ka BP, drastically modifying the hydrodynamics. Hyperpycnal flows appeared because fresh lake water replaced dense marine water. River sediments were transferred towards the deeper part of the lake into river‐related sediment drifts and confined lobes. The closing of the water body is also marked by the onset of a wind‐driven internal circulation associating coastal hydrodynamics and bottom currents with sedimentary features including shoreface deposits, sediment drifts and a prograding shelf‐type body. The fingerprints of a forced regression are well expressed by mouth‐bar systems and by the shoreface–shelf system, the latter unexpected in such a lacustrine setting. In both cases, a regressive surface of lacustrine erosion (RSLE) has been identified, separating sandy mouth‐bar from glaciomarine to prodeltaic muds, and sandy shoreface wedges from the heterolithic shelf‐type body, respectively. The Lake Saint‐Jean record is an example of a regressive succession driven by a glacio‐isostatic rebound and showing the transition from late‐glacial to post‐glacial depositional systems.     

Late Quaternary glacial–interglacial variations in sediment supply in the southern Drake Passage

Geochemical characteristics of marine sediment from the southern Drake Passage were analyzed to reconstruct variations in sediment provenance and transport paths during the late Quaternary. The 5.95 m gravity core used in this study records paleoenvironmental changes during the last approximately 600 ka. Down-core variations in trace element, rare earth element, and Nd and Sr isotopic compositions reveal that sediment provenance varied according to glacial cycles. During glacial periods, detrital sediments in the southern Drake Passage were mostly derived from the nearby South Shetland Islands and shelf sediments. In contrast, interglacial sediments are composed of mixed sediments, derived from both West Antarctica and East Antarctica. The East Antarctic provenance of the interglacial sediments was inferred to be the Weddell Sea region. Sediment input from the Weddell Sea was reduced during glacial periods by extensive ice sheets and weakened current from the Weddell Sea. Sediment supply from the Weddell Sea increased during interglacial periods, especially those with higher warmth such as MIS 5, 9, and 11. This suggests that the influence of deep water from the Weddell Sea increases during interglacial periods and decreases during glacial periods, with the degree of influence increasing as interglacial intensity increases.     

The Early Lake Ontario barrier beach: evidence for sea level about 12.8–12.5 cal. ka BP beneath western Lake Ontario in eastern North America

An overstepped, concave‐eastward, barrier beach beneath Holocene mud in western Lake Ontario has been delineated by acoustic and seismic reflection profiles and piston cores, and related to Early Lake Ontario (ELO). The average ELO barrier depth below present mean lake level is 77.4 to 80.6 m, or about ?6 to ?2.8 m above present sea level. Trend surface analysis of Champlain Sea (Atlantic Ocean) marine limits defined the contemporaneous marine water surface, and projections of this surface pass ~25 m above the outlet sill of the Lake Ontario basin and extend to the ELO palaeo‐barrier, a unique sand and gravel deposit beneath western Lake Ontario. ELO was connected to the Champlain Sea above the isostatically rising outlet sill for up to three centuries after about 12.8 cal. ka BP, while the glacio‐isostatically depressed St. Lawrence River Valley was inundated by the Atlantic Ocean. During the period of this connection, ELO level was confluent with slowly rising sea level, and the lake constructed a transgressive beach deposit with washover surfaces. ELO remained fresh due to a high flux of meltwater inflow. The marine water level connection stabilized water level in ELO relative to its shore and facilitated shore erosion, sediment supply and barrier construction. Glacio‐isostatic uplift of the outlet sill, faster than sea‐level rise, lifted ELO above the Champlain Sea about 12.5 cal. ka. Shortly after, a hydrological deficit due mainly to a combination of diverted meltwater inflow and dry climate, well known from regional pollen studies, forced the lake into a lowstand. The lowstand stranded the barrier, which remains as evidence of sea level, the farthest inland in eastern North America north of the Gulf of Mexico at the time. The highest palaeo‐washover surface provides a sea‐level index point.     

西藏纳木错末次间冰期以来的气候变迁与湖面变化

在西藏纳木错沿岸,发育了6级湖岸阶地及拔湖48～139.2m的高位湖相沉积.根据湖相沉积的U系法测年和孢粉分析结果,本文探讨了纳木错及邻区末次间冰期(MIS5)以来的古植被、古气候与湖面变化.研究表明,纳木错与邻区的湖面变化可以划分为116～37kaB.P.间的古大湖--"羌塘东湖"期、37～30kaB.P.间的"古纳木错"外流湖-残余古大湖期和30kaB.P.以来的纳木错-藏北湖群期等3大阶段.在MIS5的古大湖阶段,包括纳木错、色林错等藏北高原东南部的众多大、中型湖泊,是互相连通的一个大湖,其范围可能超过了现代的藏北内、外流(怒江)水系的分水岭.在MIS5e末的最高湖面时期,湖面面积可达78800km²,它或许还与藏北高原西南部和中南部的其他古大湖相连,成为面积巨大的网格状深水大湖--"羌塘湖".通过纳木错湖面变化曲线与西昆仑古里雅、格陵兰、南极等冰芯和深海岩芯的氧同位素变化曲线的对比可以发现,全球MIS5的气温要高于末次冰期间冰阶(MIS3),此时藏北高原为气候温和轻爽与湖面最高的大湖期;在末次冰期的两个冰阶(MIS4和MIS2)中,湖面明显下降,邻近的念青唐古拉山发育了小型山谷冰川;而在间冰阶MIS3中,其气候波动的幅度,要比世界其他地区更加明显,湖面波动也较大,特别是36～35kaB.P.间,气温和湿度都较今略高或较高,但不及MIS1中的全新世气候最宜时期的暖湿程度.总之,MIS5和MIS3是亚洲夏季风强烈时期,但前者的强烈程度应大于后者.     

Multiple drivers of Holocene lake level changes at a lowland lake in northeastern Germany

Many German lakes experienced significant water level declines in recent decades that are not fully understood due to the short observation period. At a typical northeastern German groundwater‐fed lake with a complex basin morphology, an acoustic sub‐bottom profile was analysed together with a transect of five sediment cores, which were correlated using multiple proxies (sediment facies, μ‐XRF, macrofossils, subfossil Cladocera). Shifts in the boundary between sand and mud deposition were controlled by lake level changes, and hence, allowed the quantification of an absolute lake level amplitude of ~8 m for the Holocene. This clearly exceeded observed modern fluctuations of 1.3 m (AD 1973–2010). Past lake level changes were traced continuously using the calcium‐record. During high lake levels, massive organic muds were deposited in the deepest lake basin, whereas lower lake levels isolated the sub‐basins and allowed carbonate deposition. During the beginning of the Holocene (>9700 cal. a BP), lake levels were high, probably due to final melting of permafrost and dead‐ice remains. The establishment of water‐use intensive Pinus forests caused generally low (3–4 m below modern) but fluctuating lake levels (9700–6400 cal. a BP). Afterwards, the lake showed an increasing trend and reached a short‐term highstand at c. 5000 cal. a BP (4 m above modern). At the transition towards a cooler and wetter late Holocene, forests dominated by Quercus and Fagus and initial human impact probably contributed more positively to groundwater recharge. Lake levels remained high between 3800 and 800 cal. a BP, but the lake system was not sensitive enough to record short‐term fluctuations during this period. Lake level changes were recorded again when humans profoundly affected the drainage system, land cover and lake trophy. Hence, local Holocene water level changes reflect feedbacks between catchment and vegetation characteristics and human impact superimposed by climate change at multiple temporal scales.     

Glacial and environmental changes over the last 60 000 years in the Polar Ural Mountains,Arctic Russia,inferred from a high‐resolution lake record and other observations from adjacent areas

Our knowledge about the glaciation history in the Russian Arctic has to a large extent been based on geomorphological mapping supplemented by studies of short stratigraphical sequences found in exposed sections. Here we present new geochronological data from the Polar Ural Mountains along with a high‐resolution sediment record from Bolshoye Shchuchye, the largest and deepest lake in the mountain range. Seismic profiles show that the lake contains a 160‐m‐thick sequence of unconsolidated lacustrine sediments. A well‐dated 24‐m‐long core from the southern end of the lake spans the last 24 cal. ka. From downward extrapolation of sedimentation rates we estimate that sedimentation started about 50–60 ka ago, most likely just after a large glacier had eroded older sediments from the basin. Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure dating (¹⁰Be) of boulders and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of sediments indicate that this part of the Ural Mountains was last covered by a coherent ice‐field complex during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4. A regrowth of the glaciers took place during a late stage of MIS 3, but the central valleys remained ice free until the present. The presence of small‐ and medium‐sized glaciers during MIS 2 is reflected by a sequence of glacial varves and a high sedimentation rate in the lake basin and likewise from ¹⁰Be dating of glacial boulders. The maximum extent of the mountain glaciers during MIS 2 was attained prior to 24 cal. ka BP. Some small present‐day glaciers, which are now disappearing completely due to climate warming, were only slightly larger during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) as compared to AD 1953. A marked decrease in sedimentation rate around 18–17 cal. ka BP indicates that the glaciers then became smaller and probably disappeared altogether around 15–14 cal. ka BP.     

黄河源地区优云湖相地层环境代用指标反映的古环境变化

通过对黄河源地区优云湖相地层剖面的研究,综合分析了剖面的粒度、碳酸盐含量、磁化率、TOC、N和C/N比值环境代用指标,获得了这一地区中更新世中晚期古湖泊环境变化记录。结果显示该古湖泊465～219 kaB.P.期间可能经历了深湖-滨浅湖-深湖-浅湖-深湖5个湖泊演化过程。465～435.2 kaB.P.期间,降水量较多,入湖径流多,气候比较冷湿,为深湖环境;435.2～367.3 kaB.P.期间,入湖径流减少,湖水水动力减弱,环境温度较低,湖泊营养状态较差,有机物主要是陆源物质,为浅湖环境;367.3～284.6 kaB.P.期间,环境温度逐渐增高,湖泊的营养状态好转,湖泊水体体积逐渐增大,为深湖环境;284.6～228.2 kaB.P.期间湖泊为浅水环境,但环境温度低,湖泊的营养状态差,湖泊水体体积逐渐增加,后期向深湖转变;228.2～219.0 kaB.P.期间,环境温度低,湖泊的营养状态差,湖泊水体体积逐渐增加,为深湖环境。优云地区中更新世中晚期的环境代用指标在约370 kaB.P.和约250 kaB.P.发生突变,这两次突变分别与深海氧同位素曲线MIS11向MIS10转变时期和MIS8向MIS7转变时期相对应,反映该区及青藏高原东北部的气候环境演变特征具有全球变化特征。     

Response of the Rhine–Meuse fluvial system to Saalian ice-sheet dynamics

A new reconstruction of the interaction between the Saalian Drente glaciation ice margin and the Rhine–Meuse fluvial system is presented based on a sedimentary analysis of continuous core material, archived data and a section in an ice-pushed ridge. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) was applied to obtain independent age control on these sediments and to establish a first absolute chronology for palaeogeographical events prior to and during the glaciation. We identified several Rhine and Meuse river courses that were active before the Drente glaciation (MIS 11-7). The Drente glaciation ice advance into The Netherlands (OSL-dated to fall within MIS 6) led to major re-arrangement of this drainage network. The invading ice sheet overrode existing fluvial morphology and forced the Rhine–Meuse system into a proglacial position. During deglaciation, the Rhine shifted into a basin in the formerly glaciated area, while the Meuse remained south of the former ice limit, a configuration that persisted throughout most of the Eemian and Weichselian periods. An enigmatic high position of proglacial fluvial units and their subsequent dissection during deglaciation by the Meuse may partially be explained by glacio-isostatic rebound of the area, but primarily reflects a phase of high base level related to a temporary proglacial lake in the southern North Sea area, with lake levels approximating modern sea levels. Our reconstruction indicates that full 'opening' of the Dover Strait and lowering of the Southern Bight, enabling interglacial marine exchange between the English Channel and the North Sea, is to be attributed to events during the end of MIS 6.     

Oceanic and atmospheric forcing of early Holocene ice shelf retreat,George VI Ice Shelf,Antarctica Peninsula

We use lake sediment records from an epishelf lake on Alexander Island to provide a detailed picture of the Holocene history of George VI Ice Shelf (GVI-IS). Core analyses included; micropaleontology (diatoms/foraminifera), stable isotope (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C), geochemistry (total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), C/N ratios) and grain-size analyses. These data provide robust evidence for one period of past ice shelf absence during the early Holocene. The timing of this period has been constrained by 10 AMS ¹⁴C dates performed on mono-specific foraminifera samples. These dates suggest that GVI-IS was absent between c 9600 cal yr BP and c 7730 cal yr BP. This early Holocene collapse immediately followed a period of maximum Holocene warmth that is recorded in some Antarctic ice cores and coincides with an influx of warmer ocean water onto the western Antarctic Peninsula (AP) shelf at c 9000 cal yr BP. The absence of a currently extant ice shelf during this time interval suggests that early Holocene ocean-atmosphere variability in the AP was greater than that measured in recent decades.     

Continental shelf record of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution: seismo-stratigraphic evidence from the George V Basin

The late Quaternary ice sheet/ice shelf extent in the George V Basin (East Antarctica) has been reconstructed through analyses of Chirp sub-bottom profiles, integrated with multi-channel seismic data and sediment cores. Four glacial facies, related to the advance and retreat history of the glaciated margin, have been distinguished: Facies 1 represents outcrop of crystalline and sedimentary rocks along the steep inner shelf and comprises canyons once carved by glaciers; Facies 2 represents moraines and morainal banks and ridges with a depositional origin along the middle-inner shelf; Facies 3 represents glacial flutes along the middle-outer shelf; Facies 4 is related to ice-keel turbation at water depths <500 m along the outer shelf. A sediment drift deposit, located in the NW sector of the study area, partly overlies facies 2 and 3 and its ground-truthing provides clues to understanding their age. We have distinguished: (a) an undisturbed sediment drift deposit at water depth >775 m, with drape/sheet and mound characters and numerous undisturbed sub-bottom sub-parallel reflectors (Facies MD1); (b) a fluted sediment drift deposit at water depth <775 m, showing disrupted reflectors and a hummocky upper surface (Facies MD2). Radiocarbon ages of sediment cores indicate that the glacial advance producing facies MD2 corresponds to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and that during the LGM the ice shelf was floating over the deep sector of the basin, leaving the sediment drift deposit undisturbed at major depths (Facies MD1). This observation further implies that: (a) glacial facies underneath the sediment drift were the result of a grounding event older than the LGM, (b) this sector of the East Antarctic fringe was sensitive to sea-level rise at the end of the LGM; thus potentially contributing to meltwater discharge during the last deglaciation.     

Phase relationship between sea level and abrupt climate change

Direct traces of past sea levels are based on the elevation of old coral reefs at times of sea level highstands. However, these measurements are discontinuous and cannot be easily correlated with climate records from ice cores. In this study we show a new approach to recognizing the imprint of sea level changes in continuous sediment records taken from the continental slope at locations that were continuously submerged, even during periods of sea level lowstand. By using a sediment core precisely synchronized with Greenland ice cores, we were able to recognize major floods of the Mediterranean continental shelf over the past 270 kyr. During the last glacial period five flooding events were observed at the onset of the warmest Greenland interstadials. Consistent correspondence between warm climate episodes and eustatic sea level rises shows that these global flooding events were generated by pronounced melting of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, due to rapid intensification of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.The method described in this study opens a new perspective for inter-hemispheric synchronization of marine climate records if applied in other continental margins from the Southern Hemisphere or the equatorial regions.     

Sediment record of short-lived ice-contact lakes, Burroughs Glacier, Alaska

Sediments deposited in two small ice-contact lakes with low rates of sediment input have been studied in subaerial exposures. Sediment characteristics are a function of the water source (glacial meltwater versus non-meltwater), proximity to the glacier margin and lake shore, amount of supraglacial debris, and lake duration. Calving Lake expanded (and later partially drained) as a calving ice margin retreated. Nearshore deltas contain 1 × 10⁵ m³ stratified sand and gravel deposited at rates up to 1 m/yr during a 9-yr interval. Deltaic sediment contains types A and B ripple-drift cross-lamination, draped lamination, and scour surfaces caused by variations in water-flow velocity and the amount of sediment settling from suspension. Most water inflow came from non-subglacial meltwater sources and was sediment-poor, so overflow and interflow sedimentation processes dominated the offshore environment. Offshore sediment generally contains massive silt or silt interbedded with fine-grained sand deposited at rates of 1.3-1.5 cm/yr. Iceberg gravity craters observed on the lake plain were formed when icebergs impacted the lake floor during calving events. In Bruce Hills Lake, proximity to glacier ice and the presence of supraglacial sediment formed coarsening-upward successions when debris fell directly from an ice ledge onto silty lacustrine sediment.     

Controls on sedimentation in a late Devensian ice-dammed lake, Achnasheen, Scotland

Two distinct glacigenic sediment-landform associations are described from the site of a former ice-dammed lake at Achnasheen, Ross-shire, Scotland. Firstly, three cross-valley ridges, principally composed of rain-out and sediment gravity flow deposits, were associated with a damming lobe of ice which directly controlled lake level. Secondly, large coalescing meltwater-fed deltas were developed in front of two outlet glaciers which initially terminated in the western end of the lake. The divergent evolution of the two associations is explained with reference to differing relationships between ice thickness and lake level, flux of meltwater, and glacier activity.     

Ice sheet extent and early deglacial history of the southwestern sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet

The offshore and coastal geomorphology of southwest Greenland records evidence for the advance and decay of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum. Regional ice flow patterns in the vicinity of Sisimiut show an enlarged ice sheet that extended southwestwards on to the shelf, with an ice stream centred over Holsteinsborg dyb. High level periglacial terrain composed of blockfield and tors is dated to between 101 and 142 ka using ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be cosmogenic exposure ages. These limit the maximum surface elevation of the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet in this part of southwest Greenland to ca 750–810 m asl, and demonstrate that terrain above this level has been ice free since MIS 6. Last Glacial Maximum ice thickness on the coast of ca 700 m implies that the ice sheet reached the mid to outer continental shelf edge to form the Outer Hellefisk moraines. Exposure dates record ice surface thinning from 21.0 to 9.8 ka, with downwasting rates varying from 0.06 to 0.12 m yr⁻¹. This reflects strong surface ablation associated with increased air temperatures running up to the Bølling Interstadial (GIS1e) at ca 14 ka, and later marine calving under high sea levels. The relatively late retreat of the Itilleq ice stream inland of the present coastline is similar to the pattern observed at Jakobshavn Isbræ, located 250 km north in Disko Bugt, which also retreated from the continental shelf after ca 10 ka. We hypothesise that the ice streams of West Greenland persisted on the inner shelf until the early Holocene because of their considerable ice thickness and greater ice discharge compared with the adjacent ice sheet.     

Multiple re‐advances of a Lake Vättern outlet glacier during Fennoscandian Ice Sheet retreat,south‐central Sweden

Lake Vättern represents a critical region geographically and dynamically in the deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. The outlet glacier that occupied the basin and its behaviour during ice‐sheet retreat were key to the development and drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake, dammed just west of the basin, yet its geometry, extent, thickness, margin dynamics, timing and sensitivity to regional retreat forcing are rather poorly known. The submerged sediment archives of Lake Vättern represent a missing component of the regional Swedish deglaciation history. Newly collected geophysical data, including high‐resolution multibeam bathymetry of the lake floor and seismic reflection profiles of southern Lake Vättern, are used here together with a unique 74‐m sediment record recently acquired by drill coring, and with onshore LiDAR‐based geomorphological analysis, to investigate the deglacial environments and dynamics in the basin and its terrestrial environs. Five stratigraphical units comprise a thick subglacial package attributed to the last glacial period (and probably earlier), and an overlying >120‐m deglacial sequence. Three distinct retreat–re‐advance episodes occurred in southern Lake Vättern between the initial deglaciation and the Younger Dryas. In the most recent of these, ice overrode proglacial lake sediments and re‐advanced from north of Visingsö to the southern reaches of the lake, where ice up to 400 m thick encroached on land in a lobate fashion, moulding crag‐and‐tail lineations and depositing till above earlier glacifluvial sediments. This event precedes the Younger Dryas, which our data reveal was probably restricted to north‐central sectors of the basin. These dynamics, and their position within the regional retreat chronology, indicate a highly active ice margin during deglaciation, with retreat rates on average 175 m a^?1. The pronounced topography of the Vättern basin and its deep proglacial‐dammed lake are likely to have encouraged the dynamic behaviour of this major Fennoscandian outlet glacier.     

融冰期北极楚科奇海陆架中心区硅限制与来源补充

相对氮亏损(N:P约为7,小于16)的太平洋入流水携带的营养盐是支撑北冰洋上层生态系统的重要物质基础。海冰消退,光限制消失,楚科奇海陆架存在强烈的营养盐消耗与利用,广泛认为其表现为氮限制,因此该区域重点关注氮元素循环,对于硅元素的相关研究较少。本文基于2016年中国第七次北极科学考察和中国-俄罗斯首次联合北极科学考察两个同步进行的航次调查结果,全面展示了融冰期整个楚科奇海陆架区的营养盐分布格局。结果显示,硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐表层基本耗尽;硅酸盐表现为中心低,周围高,陆架中心区是强烈的硅限制区域,受到硅和氮的共同限制。沿着太平洋入流方向,S01、R01、LV77-01站位30 m以深硅酸盐浓度高于太平洋入流水端员,说明沉积物孔隙水向底层水释放硅酸盐,因此在浅水陆架区孔隙水可作为上层海洋硅酸盐的潜在来源。本研究结合文献数据计算得到楚科奇海陆架沉积物-水界面硅酸盐年通量为630.78 mmol·m^-2·a^-1,总量为3.75×10¹¹ mol·a^-1,是太平洋入流水所携带硅酸盐年通量的一半(6.59×10¹¹ mol·a^-1),表明沉积物孔隙水也是楚科奇海陆架硅酸盐的重要来源。     

青藏高原年保玉则山末次冰期中期以来的湖泊演化与古冰川发育

冰蚀湖中的沉积物不仅记录了湖泊演化及气候变化的历史,还间接地反映冰川发育过程。年保玉则山(果洛山)下的希门错是在冰川强烈退缩后形成的一个典型冰蚀湖。从地域分布上讲,该区冰川发育遗迹分为4个部分,即上希门错以上、上希门错和希门错之间、希门错出口附近和希门错以北6～10km处。前人依据冰碛物的暴露年龄和上覆黄土的热释光年代将上述4组冰碛物划分为4次冰进,包括形成于MIS3阶段的尼格曲冰期、形成于末次盛冰期的希门错冰期、以上希门错和希门错之间的冰碛物作为标志的末次冰消期和形成于全新世的新冰期。通过对采自希门错长达12.8m的岩芯研究发现,希门错自约38kaB.P.以来有连续的湖泊沉积,这一地质证据说明在湖泊存在的这段时间内,冰川规模都没有超过现在湖泊所在位置。希门错冰期的形成时代应该至少老于湖泊沉积物底界的年龄,即大于38kaB.P.,而并非末次冰盛期的产物;尼格曲冰期的形成时代则应该更老。文章还初步分析了湖泊沉积物与冰碛物测年结果代表的不同意义和差别及其造成不一致的原因,认为冰碛物的暴露年代和热释光年代均可能代表了冰川退缩后的年代,而不能代表冰川的形成和发育年龄,冰川存在的时间要比通过冰碛物所测的年代更老。进一步深入研究青藏高原典型冰蚀湖的形成时代、演化过程不仅有利于对湖泊气候环境记录的全面认识,也将为冰川形成与演化历史、特别是冰川形成年代和其他测年资料的科学解释提供可靠的依据。